I guess I should specify that I am not looking for Blu-Ray in my system, yet. Right now, this about the alternative to $100/mo Directv. So, there is no reason to worry about upgrading the existing system for that.
Ken:
In an older thread, I looked for a reccomendation for a video upgrade for an older system, and I got this suggestion:
Asus N6200 8X AGP. Unfortunately, it didn't work with the system I was upgrading, but I still have it new in the box, and it is beyond the GeForce 4200ti that is in the system I want to use. Will this new 6200 card be enough? That would be great if I could actually end up using this card.
Also, what kind of hard drive speed do I need? This system is ATA-100. I could capture video on ATA-66 on it without a hiccup (that was the original use for this system...analog video capture and editing). I'll have to look and see what the current drives are rated for, but I think they are ATA-100, as well.
The maximum CPUs I could put in it are these: Athlon XP 3000+(333 MHZ FSB)(Barton), Duron 1800 (Model 8)(Applebred), or Sempron 3000+. What is in there now, I have double-checked, and it is an Athlon XP 2400+ (Thoroughbred). It has one GB of Crucial PC2100 266Mhz DDR RAM. Is a CPU or RAM upgrade going to be necessary?
Also, something I would like to do would be to take recorded programs and convert them to a mobile Divx format that I could play on my Zen Vision W. Can the system be set up in such a way as to do those conversions automatically and send them across the network to my desktop system?
And does BeyondTV support tv show downloads? I know some programming is available online (like "The Soup"!), and it would be nice to be able to watch extra programs.